Kyrgyzstan wants to supply fuel to US base

BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan (AP) — Kyrgyzstan is planning a joint venture with Russia to supply aviation fuel to a U.S. air base in the Central Asian country that is crucial to Western military operations in Afghanistan, officials said Monday.

Fuel supplies to the Manas air transit center, which acts as hub for troops and fuel headed to Afghanistan, were previously handled by companies with ties to the family of the Kyrgyz president overthrown earlier this year.

That arrangement was disrupted after President Kurmanbek Bakiyev was unseated amid bloody public street protests over festering living standards and perceived corruption.

"The joint state-run venture will get us away from the formerly existing corrupt schemes and will create a new area of multilateral cooperation " said Muktar Djumaliyev, deputy head of the presidential administration.

The government said in a statement Monday that the new deal is worth an estimated $60 million per year to the impoverished nation.

The plans would appear to guarantee at least the short-term future of the base, which has been the subject of intense wrangling as regional giant Russia has objected to a U.S. military presence so close to its borders. A measure of power over the base could placate Moscow for the time being.

Kyrgyzstan's provisional leader Roza Otunbayeva met with U.S. President Barack Obama in New York last week for talks that included discussion on cooperation in ensuring stability and development in Afghanistan.

Djumaliyev said the proposal on a new approach to supplying fuel to Manas was greeted positively by U.S. officials.

Fuel delivery contracts to Manas, which involved U.S. companies Mina Corp. and Red Star Enterprises are currently being investigated by the U.S. Congress.